Twists, Turns, Tight Pants: Analyzing Labyrinth
by Brittany Diamond
Summary: I sat down and took apart everything about Laby, the result being a full explanation of the film. There's more to it than I, or most people, may have thought. All your questions will be answered. Looks long, but a lot of is scene description. One shot.


**IMPORTANT Author's Note:** The words that are in italics are describing the scene that I'm about to dissect, while the regular type is my analyzation of the scene. I recently thought that it would be nice if there was a full explanation of the movie, seeing as how there's so much speculation. After completing this, I realized that the path is pretty clear, as far as who did what and why and who felt what when. It looks long, but a lot of it is scene description, so big Laby buffs probably won't need to read that part, I just did that for the not-quite-as-fanatical Laby fan and for myself so I could get the whole scene in my head before I took it apart.

**Twists, Turns, and Tight Pants: Analyzing Labyrinth**

Section One: The Park, Underground

_A white owl flies off from it's perch, and Sarah runs into the park, dressed up to look like a princess. She starts reciting a speech, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way to the Goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great…" she trails off, tries to remember her line, curses, and has to look at the book for the last line, "You have no power over me." She looks at the clock and sees that she's late to babysit, calls for her dog, and runs off as it starts to rain. As we watch Sarah run home in the rain, we hear the song Underground. Here are the lyrics:_

_It's only forever  
Not long at all  
Lost and lonely _

_No one can blame you  
For walking away  
Too much rejection  
No love injection  
Life can be easy  
It's not always swell  
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl  
'Cause it hurts like hell_

_But down in the underground  
You'll find someone true  
Down in the underground  
A land serene  
A crystal moon_

_It's only forever  
It's not long at all  
Lost and lonely  
That's underground  
Underground_

Right from the beginning we know that Jareth has been watching Sarah because, as you probably know, he's the white owl. How long has he been spying on her? No one knows, as there's no evidence that determines if he's been watching her for hours, days, weeks, months, etc. Since he's watching her we can safely assume that he's interested in her, intrigued by this young woman who spends her life in a fantasy.

For not having many lyrics, the Underground song is surprisingly deep (thanks to the genius that is David Bowie). Since all the songs were written for the movie, we know the songs are from Jareth's specific perspective. This song succeeds in getting many things across. It foreshadows a bit "No one can blame you for walking away" and "Down in the Underground, you'll find someone true" and it's obviously written from the frame of mind he has at the end of the movie, which reminds me of Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera as it's from Christine perspective at the end but put in the very beginning. Anyway, he both sympathizes and is angry with her at the same time. Everything from the lines "No one can blame you" to "It's not always swell" is sympathetic, while the two lines after that are condescending and bitter (note that the words 'hurts like hell' echoes).

At the beginning "It's only forever, not long at all, lost and lonely" can be taken as Jareth talking about both his offer (with the first two lines) and her life, but at the end he adds "That's underground" which changes the meaning from Sarah's life to his.

Generally, the first half is about her while the second half is about him.

Section Two: Fighting the Stepmother

_As Sarah reaches her house we hear her say "It's not fair" for the first, of many, times. Her stepmother is waiting for her, and chastises her for being late. The dog ends up going to the garage because he's soaking wet, and Sarah storms in the house. Sarah and her stepmother bicker about how she should be dating, she's always babysitting while they go out, etc. As she storms up the stairs, we see the dad for the first time, holding Toby, and generally trying to be the mediator. He goes up the stairs to talk to Sarah. The film cuts to a pan of Sarah's room, where we see just about everything we meet later on in the Underground. After the camera pauses on some clippings and photos of Sarah's mother, who was an actress, we see Sarah sitting at her mirror, wearing a crown and applying lipstick as she quotes her favorite book once again. Her father knocks on he door, and after one brush off from Sarah he says they have to leave and that they'll be home at midnight. Sarah throws a mini tantrum because her dad didn't try hard enough to talk to her, throws down her lipstick and crown, and dramatically throws herself on her bed. She notices one of her stuffed animals is missing, knows who took it, and rushes into Toby's room._

It's a bit difficult to tell how much of Sarah and her stepmother's argument consists of Sarah being selfish or the stepmother being unreasonable. Generally, it seems that Sarah hates her stepmother simply because she's her stepmother, and that's how it is in all the books. The stepmother even says this, "She treats me like a wicked stepmother in a fairy story no matter what I say." The only thing that makes me kind of agree with Sarah in this argument is when the stepmother says that she and Sarah's father go out rarely, and Sarah says, "You go out every weekend!" If this is true, which it probably is since the stepmother doesn't retort, then it shows how the stepmother is actually being a bit unfair. That doesn't justify Sarah flying off the handle, but it's a small indication that it's not _completely_ in her head.

When she blows off her father, then gets mad that he doesn't fight to talk to her, I can sort of understand why she'd be angry but, once again, she's mostly just immature and selfish. While I think the dad should've pressed harder to talk to his daughter, Sarah shouldn't have played games. Since she obviously wanted to talk (she wouldn't have gotten mad at him for leaving if she didn't) she should've just let him come in, instead of playing the rebellious teen card. Of course, she's too naïve to see this, but still. We see another flair of drama as she throws herself on her bed, and she continues the tirade of melodrama as she storms off to find her stuffed bear, who's name is Lancelot (no surprise there.)

Section Three: Wishing Toby Away 

_Sarah barges into her parent's room, where Toby's crib is, sees Lancelot on the floor, and screams "I hate you" twice at Toby as she picks up the bear. She, oh so dramatically, asks to be taken away from all of this. Finally noticing that Toby's bawling his eyes out, she coldly asks if he wants a story, then tells him one that (very) thinly veils her version of her life with her stepmother, plus a new idea that the Goblin King is in love with her, and granted her special powers. She goes as far as almost wishing Toby way, before dropping the act, picking Toby up, and trying to get him to stop crying. We get our first glimpse of Goblins (who seem to be hiding behind the mirror to me) who notice that she might say the words. After dramatically wishing Toby away incorrectly (a goblin says she needed to use 'I wish' at the beginning), she gives up, puts Toby in his crib, and goes to the door, casually saying "I wish the Goblin King _would_ come and take you away…right now_." _She doesn't even get to her door before the crying stops. She goes back to her parents room and finds that Toby isn't there. We see goblins scurrying about all around her, and a white owl is banging at the balcony doors, trying to get in. The doors fly open and, in true 80's fantasy fashion, Jareth enters._

The first words we hear her say to her brother are 'I hate you," and it says a lot about Sarah. The bear was in perfect condition, yet she still flew off the handle. She does everything she can to make her ordinary life seem grand and tragic. This can't be disproved with so much evidence showing it, and fairly constantly, with Sarah shouting "Someone save me, someone take me away from this awful place!"

Let's examine the 'story' she so cruelly tells Toby. Essentially, she calls Toby spoiled and herself ignored, she talks about how she's tired from housework and the harsh words of her stepmother, and how no one knows that the Goblin King was in love with her and had given her special powers. Here's what's wrong with her version of her life: Pretty much everything. She's spoiled and selfish, but is completely unaware of it. She says she's tired from 'a day of housework' but we just saw her indulging her fantasy in the park and we can safely assume that she'd been there a while, she even stayed too long, and she was just as harsh to her stepmother as her stepmother was to her, only her stepmom was a bit more justified, seeing as how Sarah was the one who was late and had therefore proved to be irresponsible (and it probably wasn't the first time she'd lost track of the time). Also, since we know many people have gone through the Labyrinth before (just never succeeded) we can safely assume that you don't need 'special powers' to wish someone away, just the right words. The only part of her story she had partially right (at the time) was when she said the Goblin King was in love with her. At the very least, as of right now, we know he's interested/fixated with her.

Ah, the goblins behind the mirror. I think they're behind the mirror because of how they're arranged….anyway, what we get from these sleeping goblins is the strong possibility that Jareth has them keeping watch over Sarah when he can't watch her himself (I think she'd start to get suspicious if a white owl followed her around all the time), which indicates that he's definitely very intrigued by her. Them getting all excited and hopeful about her saying the words could mean two things (or both): 1. They'll get to kidnap a child and laugh at her as she tries to solve the Labyrinth. 2. Jareth has been waiting for her to wish Toby away for a long time now and they'd finally get to go home. Personally, I think both possibilities are true, but it's pretty much up in the air for interpretation.

I find it very interesting that, when she's trying to be the leading lady in her own personal fantasy, she doesn't say the words right and fails to wish Toby away, but when she's being honest and realistic (and not a drama queen for once) she succeeds in wishing Toby away. It's a nice little indication that she doesn't need to do something over the top in order for something amazing to happen.

Section Four: First Words With Jareth

_Sarah begs Jareth to give her brother back, that she didn't mean any of it, but, as Jareth puts it so simply, "What's said is said." He tells her to forget about Toby and go play with her toy, then he offers her the crystal for the first time, and she rejects him. When she refuses to give up, he turns the crystal into a snake and throws it at her. It scares her, but the snake has turned into a scarf by the time it reaches her, and when it falls to the floor it turns into a goblin. Jareth shows her the Labyrinth, and they're suddenly in the Underground. He lays out the game: 13 hours to reach the Castle at the center of the Labyrinth or Toby becomes a goblin forever. Sarah walks down the hill, saying one of the worst lines in the movie, "Come on, feet."_

Okay, a lot happens in this short period of time, so I'll start at the very beginning. Before Jareth even opens his mouth, we get a sense of what he thinks of Sarah at this point in time. The sly grin he gives her, along with cocking his head to the side, shows numerous things: 1. He's been looking forward to meeting her 2. He loves the look of surprise on her face 3. Quite simply, he's fond of her.

His first offer, while a bit more eloquent than his other one at the end, is a bit quick and too simple. He seems to think that one grand entrance is enough to win her over for the rest of her life and make her forget about her brother. In a way it makes sense, since she _did_ just wish him away to become a goblin. But while she honestly didn't mean it, he thinks she did, so in his mind he'd be doing an odd sort of favor.

About her not meaning it: Deep down, beneath the drama queen, she really does love her brother (obviously, or else she would have given him up at the beginning). Besides, if everyone who was into fantasy who knew how to wish away someone and did so on a whim, there'd be thousands of people running the Labyrinth constantly, so I think it's pretty clear that have you to really mean it in order to have someone wished away. Now, if she didn't mean it then why was Toby taken? Easy: All Jareth was waiting for was for her to say the words to give him an excuse to meet and test her. Whether or not she meant it is irrelevant, but since he's been watching her behavior and not reading her mind, he's only seen her cursing her brother's name time and again.

He only scares her with the snake after she rejects him, a rather childish way of getting back at someone, but who said he doesn't need to grow up a little as well?

During the whole conversation, he toys with her, teasing her because it obviously satisfies him (he has a fair amount of spoiled selfishness running through his veins as well). Jareth's not the most sensible guy at the moment, he doesn't quite understand the concept of familial love, compassion, understanding, or sensitivity at this point, so his behavior is completely justified, but he's already starting change, you can tell because he gives her an extra hour. A small sign of kindness, yes, but it's still there.

Section Five: Meeting Hoggle and the Worm

_Sarah gets to the bottom of small hill and sees Hoggle relieving himself. They talk as he exterminates fairies, and after having to ask the right question, she turns and a large door is opening. She goes through it and sees that two long, straight routes out to either side are her only option. Hoggle leaves, after telling her she takes too many things for granted, and she starts heading down one of the routes. She almost gives up, then figures she's probably just taking it for granted and starts running. After a bit she finally throws a hissy fit and gives up, sitting up against a wall. She has a delightful little conversation with a worm, who shows her that the turns are hidden, and she misinterprets his vague directions and takes the more complicated route. As she's trying to find her way, Jareth is shown thinking in his throne room, and he decides to have a bit of fun, thus Magic Dance starts. Sarah starts marking her trail with her lipstick, but little goblins and creatures change her marks. She doesn't notice this until the end of Magic Dance, upon which she throws her lipstick and yells "It's not fair!" yet again._

Hoggle's less-than-surprised expression serves as the first bit of evidence pointing toward the fact that people have tried the Labyrinth before. Sarah having to ask just the right questions is a nice little nudge at the fact that she often just doesn't know what to ask for, or how to ask for it, or what she wants for that matter.

Hoggle telling her she takes too many things is the first step towards her maturity. Sure, she hears this then assumes that it's her problem for the first thing she comes across that's difficult, but she still becomes aware of it. Had Hoggle not told her, she would've given up the first time she gets frustrated, and never would've met the worm, and therefore never would've gotten to the next step, as far as we know. Also note how when she throws her tantrum, the secret opening isn't there, but once someone else enlightens her, she passes right through it. This shows the narrow mind she has, and how she won't see what right's in front of her unless someone holds her hand and guides the way. As far as I can tell, her having to take the indirect route is just an excuse to have more movie. It _could_ be explained, but the former answer is the most likely.

When we see Jareth thinking in his throne room, he's tapping his riding crop, brow furrowed, deep in thought. Given the circumstances it's safe to assume that he's thinking about Sarah and the things he's finding out about her that he doesn't quite understand.

Magic Dance, while an excuse to have a fun David Bowie song for the kids to bounce along to while goblins fly around everywhere, is also a time where we Jareth's soft side, so to speak. When Sarah's not around, he's laughing and joking around with his subjects, he's not "all slyness, all the time."

In the case of Sarah yelling 'it's not fair' when she finds out her marks are being changed, she's right, but she refuses to accept that that's just how it is sometimes in the Underground (and metaphorically, life).

Section Six: The Doors, the Oubliette, and the Cleaners

_After talking to the doors, Sarah knows she has to figure out which door leads to the castle, and which leads to certain death. After she thinks she's figured it out, she falls through a trap door and ends up in the oubliette. We see a quick shot of Jareth watching her, and commenting that she should've given up by now. Hoggle is there, and after she gives him a bracelet he agrees to help her out. They pass by the false alarms and a crystal rolls past them, leading them to a strange creature. Jareth reveals himself and asks Hoggle if he's helping Sarah. Hoggle assures Jareth that he was going to lead Sarah back to the beginning, and Jareth warns Hoggle that if he's lying he'll be thrown into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Jareth asks Sara how she likes the Labyrinth, and she says it's a piece of cake. To throw a little challenge her way , he forwards time by a couple of hours and sends the cleaners after them. When they narrowly escape, they find a ladder and start climbing, during which Hoggle admits that he's deathly afraid of Jareth._

She's not sent to the oubliette because she was wrong (I figured it out in a moment of clarity, she was right) she was sent to the oubliette as punishment for her arrogance. As she walking through the doors she says "This is a piece of cake" and BAM, down to the oubliette she goes. Don't ask me why she chooses to go down when the hands catch her, that's a little plot hole, but since the hands offered to help her back up, that's not considered "certain death," which was the punishment for being wrong. The oubliette was her lesson for thinking that, once you solve one problem, you're automatically amazing, when in fact you have to go through numerous trials to really learn anything.

As Jareth watches her he comments that she should've given up by now. I interpret this as he's hoping she'll give up her brother and therefore take him. Sure, it's unrealistic, but as I said before, Jareth doesn't understand a few things yet.

Let's skip to where Jareth appears after Hoggle and Sarah pass the false alarms. Him threatening Hoggle with the Bog, as I see it, is another attempt at making the Labyrinth as hard as possible so Sarah will give up and accept him.

Once again, Sarah is punished for her arrogance when she tells Jareth that his Labyrinth is a piece of cake. To me, Jareth takes it a bit personally as well. Shortening her time was punishment enough, but sending the cleaners (relatively harmless though they were) was a bit over the top. When he asks her how she's enjoying his Labyrinth, he seems honestly curious (while a bit mischievous as always), and to have his realm called easy is like calling him a pushover. I noticed that he got pretty short with her once she said that, his attitude changed.

He makes a great point here, when she claims that it's not fair. "You say that so often I wonder what your basis for comparison is." He hits the nail right on the head, and it's another step in the right direction for Sarah as far as maturity goes.

A lot of people say "If he really cared about her he wouldn't have put her in so much danger." I have two rebuttals for this: 1. How much danger was she really in? The cleaners looked dangerous at first but ended up being just a couple of goblins pedaling the thing along, and since it's Jareth's Labyrinth he most likely knew about the section of wall that they could push over. 2. The Labyrinth is a huge test and, in Sarah's case at least, he makes it a bit harder as a test of her ability and, essentially, her worth. She's proving whether or not she's good enough, basically. On one hand, he wants her to give up, but on the other hand, he wants to see what she's capable of. Either way he figures she'll end up choosing him, so it's win-win as far as he's concerned.

Another question people could have is, "Why do the other goblins party with him while Hoggle is deathly afraid of him?" The answer is very simple: It all depends on if you're on Jareth's good side. He's nice when he wants to be and evil when he wants to be, and probably sees very little distinction between the two in the beginning. Hoggle just so happens to have experienced Jareth's wrath. Hoggle's also a big coward, so it wouldn't take much from Jareth to make him shake in his boots.

Section Seven: The Wise Man, Meeting Ludo

_When Sarah and Hoggle reach the top of the ladder, they exit into a garden maze, and Hoggle says that that's as far as he can take her. In order to get him to stay, she swipes his bag of jewels. A Wise Man shuffles in and takes a seat, but doesn't offer much advice. Sarah pays the toll, not too long after that, they hear a loud roar. Hoggle retreats like the coward he so lovingly is, and Sarah presses on alone. She finds a big beast who's tied up by his ankles, being tortured by guards. She throws rocks at the guards to turn their helmets around and they run off in a blind panic. She sets the beast free and finds out his name is Ludo, they become instant friends. They don't walk far before happening upon the knockers on two doors. She chooses a door and goes through it with Ludo. They're now in a forest area, and when Sarah steps forward to show Ludo he has nothing to be scared about, he drops through a trap door. Sarah starts yelling for help, and Hoggle hears her, but is stopped by Jareth before he can go help her._

Finally, Sarah's first big breakthrough. When she has to steal Hoggle's jewels so he'll lead her the rest of the way, he says "It's not fair" and she responds with, "No, it isn't…but that's the way it is." It dawns on her (at last) that Labyrinth (and life) isn't fair, but there's nothing you can do about it.

This is followed by another, smaller, step. When she has to pay for the Wise Man's (useless) advice, her first instinct is to give up Hoggle's jewels, a selfish act if there ever was one. She decides against it and (somewhat reluctantly) gives up her ring. If this had been the Sarah from the very beginning, she probably would've given up Hoggle's jewels and made up some excuse as to how he deserved it and she was the victim.

When she tells Ludo, "See, it's not so bad." Ludo is instantly taken away from her, leaving her alone. For the third time now, Sarah is being punished for minimizing the Labyrinth's (and thus, life's) difficulty.

Section Eight: Hoggle's Mission, Chilly Down, The Bog Pt. 1

_Jareth, with his impeccable timing, stops Hoggle from helping Sarah and gives him a new task: Deliver a peach to Sarah and make sure she eats it. Hoggle takes the peach and goes off to help Sarah. Meanwhile, Sarah runs into some interesting creatures, and the song Chilly Down is performed. Sarah escapes the creatures, and Hoggle throws her a rope. After she climbs up, she kisses Hoggle on the cheek in her excitement, and they're both sent to the Bog of Eternal Stench, almost falling in. They make it to land safely, find Ludo, and run into a new character, Sir Didymus, the Bog bridge's guard._

The scene between Jareth and Hoggle gives us a lot of new hints and information from Jareth's end. Firstly, we find out that Jareth has little jealousy issue. If he's not jealous, then why would he care if Sarah kisses Hoggle or not? He wouldn't. That's pretty much set in stone. This clues us in as to how much he's starting to care about Sarah and how, even though he's the Goblin King, she makes him feel insecure enough to threaten a dwarf in order to make sure she doesn't kiss him.

Not much to say about Chilly Down, it's an excuse to show funny creatures doing funny things for the kids. However, after Chilly Down she runs from the creatures and comes to a dead end wall, where she actually calls for help. Less than a second passes before a rope drops down and Hoggle tells her to climb. This is the first time she asks for help, as opposed to being all high and mighty, and she's rewarded.

Section Nine: The Bog Pt. 2, The Ballroom Sequence

_Sarah talks rationally to Didymus, and ends up having to ask permission in order to cross the bridge. When Didymus taps on the bridge, it collapses_ _and Sarah's left hanging onto a branch. Ludo calls rocks from the Bog to serve as stepping stones and they all cross. Hoggle musters up the courage and gives the peach to Sarah when the subject of food comes up. She bites into it and soon passes into a dreamlike trance. She finds herself at a masquerade ball, and Jareth appears, then vanishes as she tries to get to him. He finally shows up for a long enough period of time and they begin to dance. After a while Sarah sees all the faces staring at her, remembers Toby, and flees. She breaks a mirror and everything is thrust into chaos. She falls through the air and lands in a landfill. During the ballroom scene, the song As the World Falls Down plays._

_There's such a sad love  
Deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel  
Open and closed within your eyes  
I'll place the sky within your eyes_

_There's such a fooled heart  
Beating so fast in search of new dreams  
A love that will last within your heart  
I'll place the moon within your heart_

_As the pain sweeps through  
Makes no sense for you  
Every thrill has gone  
Wasn't too much fun at all  
But I'll be there for you  
As the world falls down_

_Falling  
Falling down  
Falling in love_

_I'll paint you mornings of gold  
I'll spin you Valentine evenings  
Though we're strangers till now  
We're choosing the path between the stars  
I'll leave my love between the stars_

_As the pain sweeps through  
Makes no sense for you  
Every thrill has gone  
Wasn't too much fun at all  
But I'll be there for you  
As the world falls down_

Another big step forward for Sarah. She approaches the problem with Didymus calmly, and rationally, and it ends up having a very simple solution. She has now experienced 100 rational thought. Woo!

Okay, before we get into the big Ballroom scene, I have to point out the symbolism of the peach itself. It's very simple: It's sexual. You probably already figured that, but this is a total analyzation so you know…Anyway, onto the Ballroom scene.

No matter how you look at it, As the World Falls Down is a _love_ song and, from the lyrics, a pretty dang pure and sincere one at that. The song reassures Sarah that, although she may be confused and lost right now, he'll be there for her even her entire world collapses. At first, in the ballroom, he toys with her, as usual, taunting her, appearing here, there, fading into the crowd so she'll pass him by. From the looks on his face he's obviously thoroughly enjoying himself and, judging by her expression when she first sees him, she's starting to figure out what this is all about. After the first chorus Jareth finally shows up to stay, slowly sweeping her into a dance, and I'm sure that it's right at the moment when they start dancing when he truly falls in love with her. By the second chorus he's actually singing the song to her, which solidifies my theory. Now comes the moment where she notices everyone around them and realizes that she just doesn't belong in such an adult world, and in a way she's right: She's too young to understand what's happening between her and Jareth, but she also remembers Toby. As she runs away, you see the look on Jareth's face: He's hurting, he's feeling betrayed for the first time and he doesn't quite know what to do at the moment, so he lets the crowd swallow him.

Section Ten: The Landfill, Getting into the Goblin City, Evading the Guards

_Sarah lands in a heap of garbage, sees that the peach in her hand is rotten, throws it away, and meets the trash lady. The new acquaintance leads her into a place that looks exactly like her room and starts trying to occupy her mind with all the little nick-knacks she's kept for so long. She sees the Labyrinth book and reads from it, causing her to remember Toby, and the illusion literally crumbles. She climbs out and is reunited with her friends. They go to Goblin City, where they have to battle a big machine guardian in order to get into the city itself, and once they're inside Jareth is notified of their presence and he sends troops after them. Sarah and her friends battle the guards and finally escape into the castle, where Sarah says she must face Jareth alone._

The _first thing_ Sarah is handed is Lancelot, and after being drowned in all of the belongings she's cherished for so long, she declares it all junk. Huge step for her, obviously, she's letting go of all the trivial little things she's clung to like a child for so long in favor of more important things, such as her little brother.

As far as Jareth sending a bunch of troops after the person he fell in love with: He was rejected, betrayed for the first time (presumably) ever, and he responded in the only way he knew how: Anger. Think of the snake/scarf multiplied by 100.

When Sarah says she has to go alone because "that's just the way it's done," this is her last grasp at her old, fantasy ridden way of thinking. I mean, really, what fantasy story doesn't have the main character battling the final boss all by his/her lonesome? Anyway…

Section Eleven: Within You

_Sarah goes up the stairs and into the Escher room. When she starts to try and make her way through, Jareth appears underneath her, and Within You begins._

_How you turned my world, you precious thing  
You starve and near exhaust me  
Everything I've done, I've done for you  
I move the stars for no one  
You've run so long  
You've run so far  
Your eyes can be so cruel  
Just as I can be so cruel  
Though I do believe in you  
Yes I do  
Live without the sunlight  
Love without your heartbeat  
I, I can't live within you_

During this song, Jareth finally gets to express al the anger and resentment he feels for her leaving him at the masquerade. As you can tell, the lyrics are few but say a lot, and all but two lines in the song are angry and spiteful. He tried the 'nice guy' approach in the ballroom, and got nowhere. Basically, Hell hath no fury like a Goblin King scorned. There's a great moment during the line "Your eyes can be so cruel, just as I can be so cruel" where he holds the crystal up, as if to taunt her with his offer and give a hint as to why he's so angry. Also, the line "Your eyes can be so cruel" could be a specific reference to the moment during the ball when she realizes that everyone's staring and runs away from him. Her expression (particularly her eyes) went from amazed and spellbound to doubting and intimidated.

The big line that can be interpreted in a few different ways is "I can't live within you." For those who think the Underground and everything in it was in her mind the whole time, this is probably the biggest piece of evidence they have to support that theory, but since we know for a fact that the Underground wasn't in her mind (thanks to the manga sequel) that interpretation can be safely ruled out. I've been mulling this one over for a while and I have yet to figure it out exactly. Within her heart, maybe? I'm not sure. It's the one answer I don't have nailed down yet.

The next day: AHA! I figured it out. When he sings "I can't live within you" he's talking about how he can't just be part of her fantasy world, he needs to be a part of her life. BAH! YES! Okay….I can relax now…

Section Twelve: Their Final Words

_Sarah jumps off a part of the Escher room and ends up floating down into the final area. Jareth appears (in my least favorite outfit of his, no less) and she demands Toby. He warns that he's been generous, but he can be cruel. He gets a bit mad when she asks him how he's been generous. He says, "You asked that the child be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have re-ordered time. I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you. I'm exhausted from living up to all your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?" She starts quoting from the book, but he stops her and makes his final offer by saying "Look at what I'm offering you. I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." Sarah remembers the last line and says it, causing Jareth to turn back into and owl and for Sarah to be back in her own home._

This is just my theory, but I think when she jumps off the part of the Escher room, every goes into chaos because she broke the rules of the game. Not really all that important, but you know.

By the time this encounter takes place, Sarah has pretty much fully matured from her experiences, and you can tell by the way she handles herself in front of him now, especially compared to their first meeting. She doesn't ask politely or beg for her brother back, she _demands_ it. Jareth sees this, but it doesn't affect him in the slightest, he has his own reasons to be furious. It's here that he admits to do everything for _her_. He fulfilled every one of her fantasies, right down to the Chilly Down gang and the dress she wears in the ballroom (they were in her room at the beginning and since we know he's been watching her, we know he's seen these things). However, he still has a hot temper and still doesn't understand a few things. This time, his offer has nothing to do with Toby. When she rejected his first offer, he told her to forget about the baby, but his last offer was just between him and her, he never mentions what Toby's fate might be, he never says "Be with me and Toby will be freed" because that part of the deal is already done. The game was 'find your way to the center of the Labyrinth in thirteen hours' and she did, Toby was no longer an issue. This is probably why he ignores her initial demand, warning her of his ability to be cruel instead. So he makes his final offer and, while it's more sincere than the first one, it's also more convoluted. He's like one of those guys you meet who has all these feelings but has no clue how to express them, so what actually comes out of his mouth is a bit confusing. He admits a lot to her in one last attempt to win her heart (he talks about a give and take relationship, essentially, but it's worded a little more eloquently), and you can see the heartbreak on his face when she says 'You have no power over me.' He knows those are the words that she thinks will destroy him, and that there's no hope in winning her over once she's said them (hence why he stops her when she first starts quoting the book). He throws the crystal (symbolic for the offer and the dream) 'away' and it lands in Sarah's hand, thus the offer/dream pops and is no more.

Section Thirteen: After Party

_Sarah checks on Toby to make sure he's alright, and even puts Lancelot in his crib while he sleeps. Later, she's putting her nick-knacks away when her friends appear in her mirror, telling her that she can call if she needs them. She says she does, and everyone's suddenly in her room, celebrating. We're then shown a view that peeks into Sarah's room from the outside, where a white owl is perched. It flies off into the night._

Sarah putting Lancelot in the crib is another obvious nudge to the viewer to tell them that Sarah has grown up in a sense. I think it's very interesting that she's putting away her fantasy nick-knacks when her friends appear in the mirror and she admits to needing them. You see her expression go back to the old Sarah in a way, amazed and in love with the fantastic. This is clear proof that, while she hasn't given up her love for fantasy completely, she has grown significantly in last thirteen hours. She finds a nice balance between reality and fantasy that suits her perfectly for the moment.

Jareth being at her window could mean two things: 1. He was saying his last goodbye before flying back to the Underground forever. 2. Even though she rejected him, he'll still watch over her as he did before. It's hard to tell which is right, since there's really no evidence that supports one more than the other.

Has he learned from Sarah's rejection this time? Has he figured out all the things he didn't understand before? We don't know, and we really don't have any way of knowing. Hopefully the Manga sequel will give us the answer. If you've read the first volume in the three part Manga sequel, you'll know that, at a party, Jareth thinks he sees Sarah and says something along the lines of "It can it be?" Personally, I got the vibe that he still misses Sarah and that he was pining for her a bit. I really hope the other two volumes end up being the big story for how Jareth and Sarah finally get together, it's been vaguely hinted at in the first volume, so who knows…


End file.
